“Palestine was on the ballot and won.” That was the verdict from Jewish Voice for Peace Action on Instagram after David Orkin, a self-described anti-Zionist Jew, took a Queens Assembly seat from an incumbent on Tuesday.
Orkin, an immigrant workers’ rights attorney and union organizer, won 58.8 percent of the vote in Assembly District 38. Jenifer Rajkumar, who has held the seat since 2021 and was the first South Asian woman elected to office in New York state, got 40.9 percent. The district takes in parts of Ridgewood, Glendale, Ozone Park, Woodhaven and Richmond Hill.
The group’s post added that Orkin “will be a champion for Palestinian freedom in Albany.” It also noted that “pro-Palestine candidates are sweeping in NYC tonight.”
A campaign built on affordability and immigration
Israel was not on the platform. Orkin’s listed priorities were affordability and immigration. But he said again and again that he supported a “free Palestine,” and he went after Rajkumar’s record on Israel. In a May post on X he wrote that she “has walked in the Israel day parade but has said NOTHING against the war in Gaza, occupation of Palestine, or Islamophobic attacks faced by the people of New York.”
Rajkumar, a close ally of former Mayor Eric Adams, promised in her own platform to combat antisemitism.
Orkin has been active in the movement for years. He founded a Jewish Voice for Peace chapter in Tucson, Arizona, in 2014 and stayed with the group. “I’ve been involved in the Jewish Palestine Solidarity Movement for 12, 13 years,” he told Democratic Left last month. “I’ve dedicated part of my life to making sure that Jewish people are creating religious spaces outside of Zionism.”
In an Instagram reel the group posted earlier in June, he said it was “so incredibly meaningful” to run as an anti-Zionist Jew and to be “one of the few anti-Zionist Jewish voices” in an elected state seat. If elected, he said, he could tell the legislature that “criticizing Israel for genocide, demanding an end to the occupation, demanding an end to funding war abroad is not antisemitic.”
Endorsements and money
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backed Orkin. So did Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, JVP Action and NYC Democratic Socialists for America. Rajkumar had ActJew, a new nonprofit that fights antisemitism, along with the Queens Jewish Alliance and Assemblymembers Sam Berger, Kalman Yeger and Chuck Lavine.
Orkin raised more than $290,000 this cycle, including over $156,000 from the state comptroller’s office. Rajkumar raised more than $270,000, among it $9,000 from health care executive Daniel Lowy.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not endorse Orkin. He did endorse Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, who won congressional primaries the same night, and the JTA described those results as a pro-Palestinian turn for the party in the city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel.
In a statement relayed by QNS, Orkin said: “I have dedicated my life fighting for immigrants and workers, I am proud to have earned their support in this election, and I look forward to spending the rest of my life winning the beautiful and joyous lives we deserve.”
Sources
- Jewish anti-Zionist David Orkin defeats incumbent in NY Assembly primary – Jewish Telegraphic Agency
